We are working mainly on strange things, which sound maybe odd but it refers simply to particles containing a strange quark. Why is the study of mesons and baryons with a strange content relevant for the human kind? One of the pioneering idea behind this study was the hypothesis that neutron stars might have a condensate of strange particles in their core. Astronomers looks at neutron stars and determine their mass and radii, we collide nuclei in the laboratory and try to produce high density environments, to measure there strange particles and help theoreticians in constraining models for neutron stars... among other things.

Offered Bachelor’s or Master’s Theses Topics

Vector Mesons interactions with nucleons are not known at all in a quantitative way. A new method developed in our TUM group, allows to make use of the copius data collected at the LHC with the ALICE experiment to identify vector mesons as phi and omega together with protons produced in pp and pPb collisions at energiey of the center of mass of 13 and 5 TeV.

The femotscopy technique allows then to extract the scattering parameters that governs the vector meson-nucleon interaction.

This kind of measurements have been not yet carried out by any experimental group yet but are highly important to undertand low energy QCD and hence strong interaction among hadrons.

The work implies programming in c++ but no prior experience is requested.

Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) are used to multiply incoming electrons to enable the detection of originally small amounts of charge. Thick GEMs (THGEMs) are a robust variation of GEMs. With thickness, hole size, and hole pitch being one order of magnitude larger than in standard GEMs, THGEMs offer more stability against mechanical stress and contamination by dirt. Therefore, they are suited for operation in much harsher environments and form an interesting alternative for a variety of applications.

A novel and innovative method of photodetection is to use a THGEM coated with a material with a low working function (e.g. CsI). Electrons from the top coating are released by incoming photons and can be multiplied by the THGEM for readout. This device offers the possibility for relatively cheap large scale applications, which is particularly advantageous for neutrino detectors.

The student will take part in the coating process of THGEMs and extensive R\&D studies in order to proof the feasibility of this kind of technology.

Measurement of antideutron interaction cross-sections as a reference for future indirect searches of dark matter

Our Group at the Technische Universität München (TUM) studies the properties of hadronic interactions and their implications for astro-particle physics by means of accelerator experiments.

One of the indirect ways to search for dark matter (c) is to look for 𝜒𝜒̅ annihilations resulting in final states such as 𝑝𝑝̅,𝑒+𝑒−,𝑑𝑑̅…with satellite or balloon experiments. In particular, low energy 𝑑̅ seem to be optimal candidates for such searches, since cosmic ray-induced background does not contribute too much to this final state.

In order to estimate a reliable detection probability of dark matter-induced events such as 𝜒𝜒̅⟶𝑑𝑑̅+ .., the interaction probability of 𝑑̅ with normal nuclear matter must first be measured. The latter will indeed drive the detection probability of antiparticles in the spectrometers.

Since the 𝑑̅+𝐴 (𝐴=𝐶,𝐴𝑙,𝑆𝑖..) elastic and inelastic cross-sections for 𝑑̅ with energies lower than 6 GeV is completely unknown, the topic of the advertised PhD deals with the measurement of these interactions.

This is made possible by analyzing pp collisions at √𝑠=13 𝑇𝑒𝑉 at the LHC measured by the ALICE detector, since in these collisions a large statistics of 𝑝̅ and 𝑑̅ is produced and their interaction with the detector material can be studied.

The Master Thesis work will be structured in the following way:

* Determination of the 𝑝̅/p and 𝑑̅ /d experimental ratios as a function of the particle momentum, extracted from pp collisions measured by ALICE at √𝑠=13 𝑇𝑒𝑉